Call of Duty: Ghosts Review (toe ring that binds them)
This game is possibly not secure. There is a security vulnerability described below.
Opening any CoD made prior to 2015 and connecting to the internet will result in a chance for people to gain access to your pc. 2 security breaches are known:
CVE-2018-20817
(SV_SteamAuthClient in various Activision Infinity Ward Call of Duty games before 2015-08-11 is missing a size check when reading authBlob data into a buffer, which allows one to execute code on the remote target machine when sending a steam authentication request. This affects Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops 1, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.)
CVE-2018-10718
(Stack-based buffer overflow in Activision Infinity Ward Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 before 2018-04-26 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted packets)
These are some things they can do even if you just boot up the game and get to the menu:
Hidden Remote System Access
System Information
File Manager
Hidden Desktop Usage
Monitor on/off
Hidden Browser Usage
Open/close CD
Hidden Chrome Usage
Show/Hide taskbar
Start Up Manager
Hidden Firefox Usage
Show/Hide Start Button
Task Manager
Hidden Edge Usage
Show/Hide Explorer
Remote Shell Usage
Show/Hide Clock
TCP Connection
Show/Hide Tray
Reverse Proxy
Show/Hide Mouse
Registry Editor
Hidden Explorer
Enable/Disable TaskMgr
UAC Exploit
Enable/Disable Regedit
Disable WD
Disable UAC
Format All Drives
DDOS attack
Audio recording
Webcam recording
Device information
Process hollowing
Credential stealing
Discord token stealing
I have reviewed every CoD I own that is older than 2015 with these vulnerabilities as harmful and put those 2 CVE's under the description why. This is to warn others about the issues, as I am not a networking or security expert and can't advise on how to mitigate the risk other than to not install the game at all.
It's my slim hope that by leaving this review, the issue might be noticed by Activision/IW/Sledgehammer and action may be taken.
Update: note that a similar RCE exploit was found in Black Ops III and appears to have been fixed in a 2023 update. I have not found reliable information indicating a fix for this game, however.